Fairburn was born in Bradford on 5 September 1887; educated at Bradford
Grammar School and gained an Open Scholarship to Brasenose College, Oxford,
in 1905. After taking a First in Mathematical Moderations and in Final Schools,
he read Engineering Science, being the first student in the new Engineering
School at Oxford; in this he also gained First Class Honours. He then became
a pupil under Henry Fowler at Derby for two years. In 1912 he joined the
Siemens Dynamo Works Ltd of Stafford, being first involved in research work;
from 1913 to 1916 he was assistant to the Resident Engineer on the
Shildon-Newport electrification of the North Eastern Railway. He was responsible
for the design and erection of the overhead equipment and for commissioning
the locomotives. After service as an Experimental Officer in the Royal Flying
Corps in World War 1, he joined English Electric Company to organise a railway
electrification department. By 1931 he had become Chief Engineering Manager
of the Traction Department of EE and had been involved with electrification
schemes in 49 countries, as well as with the development of diesel-electric
locomotives. In 1934 he was invited to join the LMS as Chief Electrical Engineer.
Rutherford states (Backtrack,
16, 515) that he was "something of a catch for the LMSR and especially
for Hartley".

In 1938 Fairburn became additionally Deputy CME under Stanier, and
thus Acting CME when Stanier became engaged in full-time Government work
in 1942. On Stanier's retirement from the LMS in 1944 he became CME. Despite
his limited experience of steam traction he took a close interest in it,
especially in the modified version of the Stanier 2-6-4T with which his name
is particularly associated. He began to introduce new ideas based on his
industrial experience, in such matters as the layout and numbering of drawings.
More drastic changes in techniques and personnel would almost certainly have
followed had Fairburn not died suddenly from a heart attack at the age of
58 on 12 October 1945. When considering his successor
Ivatt and "his" mainline diesel electric locomotives
it is tempting to wonder how much of the way had been prepared by Fairburn.
Terry Jenkins Sir Ernest
Lemonhas quite a lot to say about Fairburn including that
he played golf with Lemon..

On page 88 of Larkin's
book: Charles E. Fairburn is described as a most able
administrator. First engineer to graduate from Oxford; also a graduate from
Cambridge. Previously General Manager of English Electric under Sir George
Nelson (Chairman). Larkin was involved in diesel electric shunters at Derby.
Fairburn "was a first-class administrator, a brilliant mathematician and
a tireless worker (page 91).

Cox (Locomotive panorama, Vol. 1):
"Fairburn, on the other hand [compared with Ivatt], was one of the first
examples of someone coming straight from outside industry into a top position
in railway engineering. Starting as Chief Electrical Engineer in 1934, he
was far from being solely an electrician, and his former positions of
responsibility with the English Electric Co., including their heavy mechanical
engineering activities, gave him great authority in dealing with railway
workshops and production matters after he became Deputy C.M.E. Thus he was
a scourge of the inefficient in the shops, and soon became extremely 'canny'
in weighing up form on steam traction matters, in which, to the surprise
of some and the affront of others, he took a very real interest. A protege
of Sir Harold Hartley (see also Rogers
Last steam locomotive engineer pp 87-8 who had to inform Riddles
that he was being sent to Scotland to pave the way for Fairburn's entry),
who was his strong supporter at management level, he had a brain like a
calculating machine, and liked to arrive at all his results by the operation
of pure logic. For this, unlike Ivatt, he called for the utmost by way of
detailed and accurate information, not only because whole segments of railway
activity were new to him, but also because that was the way he liked it-he
was prepared to take endless time and trouble with the job in hand, and to
give it his undivided attention, and he expected his staff to do the
same." Cox's Chronicles of steam C.E.
Fairburn who had joined the railway in 1934 was nominally [KPJ the nominally
should be noted] in command at Derby from 1942 until his death at the end
of 1945, but although his interest in steam matters was real, his previous
career spent with the English Electric Co.. naturally had not given him
the knowledge, feel' and instinct of a true steam locomotive man. [KPJ's
emphasis]

Thus it was not surprising that it required not a little finesse to
satisfy Fairburn and Ivatt simultaneously, and to interpret Stanier's activities
and demands to both, in a manner which did not fall foul of the susceptibilities
of any of the three of them. Occasionally it took some doing to avoid this
undesirable outcome since their admiration for one another's ways was not
always boundless."

Chacksfield, J.E. Ron
Jarvis: from Midland compound to the HST. 2004.Jarvis (page 65) "got to know Fairburn quite well" as they shared
an official car for journeys between Derby and Watford during WW2. Jarvis
considered that Fairburn "had his own definite views and needed dipolmatic
handling at times", moreover "he was not a fit man and could at times be
quite irritable". There is also a suggestion that whilst Fairburn was Acting
CME he had not always been loyal to Stanier.

Langridge, E. Under ten CMEs.
2 p. 7Fairburn, who succeeded Stanier as CME in 1944 had had a distinguished
academic career at Oxford. He had served  perhaps strange to note 
three years pupilage at the Derby locomotive works under Fowler; so he must
have known something about steam locomotives. He then joined Siemens and
became involved in the ER ewport-Shildon electrification work. He was in
the RAF and became a pilot in World War I, after which he joined English
Electric in their traction department, later becoming manager of their Dick,
Kerr works at Preston.' Lastly he joined the LMS in 1934 as chief electrical
engineer and in 1937 became deputy CME  so he was a pretty all-round
engineer. He was a man of strong opinions. He disliked the 'out-of-date'
steam locomotive and was very keen that the drawing office should follow
the practice of English Electric in making 'unit drawings' of every detail
instead of ordering up details from a sub- assembly drawing. He rapidly became
a thorn in the flesh to the older dyed-in-the-wool steam men, and removals
and transfers of anyone who criticized his views soon took place. He saw
the future traction unit as a diesel-electric locomotive. He had proved himself
right in the matter of diesel shunters versus steam shunters and was only
waiting the time when the diesel engine section at Rugby should have developed
their basic 350 hp engine into a 1,600 hp one